About:

Andrew N. Kleit is Professor of Energy and Environmental Economics and MICASU Faculty Fellow. He is also a visiting scholar at the China University of Geosciences, Beijing. His current research interests are focused on the areas of competition in electricity and natural gas markets. He is the author or editor of over 70 academic articles and seven books. He has worked at several different regulatory agencies, including the President’s Council of Economic Advisors, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Research Projects:

Modern Energy Market Competition (Emerald Press, November 2018). As long as commodity and securities markets have been in operation, market manipulation has been a serious concern. Now that many electricity and natural gas markets have been opened to competition, manipulation threatens to destroy the value of these markets as well. Yet market manipulation itself remains ill-defined, with uncertain legal and economic principles operating on both sides of regulatory proceedings. This book explores this crucial gray area. It presents a coherent definition of market manipulation, and applies it a variety of legal context. It examines two categories of manipulation cases. In the first, the allegations fit the definition of manipulation, but the facts of the case are unclear. In the second, the facts of the case are clear, but whether or not these events constitute manipulation is unclear. The work casts a critical eye not only on the actions of energy companies but also the legal decisions of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Electricity Capacity Markets (with Todd Aagard) Billions of dollars are spent each year by electricity consumers on “capacity markets,” which have the stated purpose of protecting electricity reliability. This will be the first book length work on this important area. Issues to be explored include how these markets are structured, how decisions are made for these markets, and whether these markets truly reach their goal of enhancing reliability, or merely represent an opportunity for the transfer of funds.

The Economics of Natural Gas Refracturing (with Arash Dahi-Taleghani) . Natural gas markets have been transformed by hydraulic fracturing. Hydraulic fracturing, however, can leave up to 90 percent of the available gas in the ground. To capture this remaining gas, firms have begun to refracture previously drilled unconventional wells. In this research project Professor Taleghani and I plan to address questions concerning the optimal timing of refracturing, and how much gas can be recovered through refracturing.